3 ConnectingLANs

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Connecting LANs

 LAN Connecting Devices


 Bridges
 Transparent Bridges
 High speed LANs
Interconnecting LANs

Q: Why not just one big LAN?


 Limited amount of supportable traffic: on single LAN, all stations must share
bandwidth
 limited length: 802.3 specifies maximum cable length
 large “collision domain” (can collide with many stations)
 limited number of stations: 802.5 have token passing delays at each station
Connecting Devices

Internetworking
Networking Devices
Devices

Repeaters Bridges Routers Gateways


Connecting devices
Introduction
 There are many different devices for interconnecting networks

Ethernet Ethernet
Hub Hub
Hosts Hosts

Bridge Router

Token- X.25
ring Network
Gateway
 LAN Connecting Devices

 Repeater propagate the signal from one segment to another.

 Hub (Multi way Repeater) propagate the signal onto a number of


segments, possibly with different types of cable.

 Bridge connect two local area networks together. Bridges can be


used to localize traffic.
Repeater Layout

repeater

repeater

ONE network
Legal

repeater
repeater

repeater

ONE network

ILLEGAL
Repeater
Note:

A repeater connects segments of a LAN.


Note:

A repeater forwards every frame; it has


no filtering capability.
Note:

A repeater is a regenerator,
not an amplifier.
Function of a repeater
 Repeaters: used in Ethernet (802.3)

 There is a distance limitation on Ethernets (802.3)


because the electrical signal becomes weaker as it travels
along a wire.
 To overcome this limitation, a repeater can be used to
allow two cables to be joined together.
 A repeater is an analog device.
 When a repeater sense a signal on one cable, the repeater
transmits an amplified copy on the other cable.
 Repeaters do not understand the frame format, they only
deals with electrical signals.
 The maximum length of an Ethernet cable is 500 metres
(10Base2 = 200m, 10BaseT = 100m)
 Repeaters: used in Ethernet (802.3)

 The length of a Ethernet cannot be increased indefinitely


by using multiple repeaters.
 The reason for this is because Ethernet uses Carrier
Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection
(CSMA/CD).
 If the time it takes for a frame to propagate from one end
of the network to the other end increases, it reduces the
possibility of the computers connected to the cable being
able to detect collisions.
 Ethernet (802.3) standard specifies that the network may
not operate correctly if more than four repeaters separate
any two computers.
 At this point, you've got Ethernet ports in some number of
computers, gaming consoles, printers, etc. and a matching
number of cables all coming from them to one location (or a
few concentrating locations if you planned more than one
switch). You now need a device (or two) that lets you connect
all these cables together

 For a LAN, that device is usually a stand alone Ethernet hub or


Ethernet switch. For the broadband connection sharing
network, that device is usually the cable/DSL router because
most routers have a built-in switch (typically with three or four
ports). If your cable/DSL router has only one port or you need
to connect more devices than the number of ports on the back
of the cable/DSL router, you will also need to attach a hub or
switch to connect all your devices together.
 The difference between a hub and a switch is analogous in the telephone
world to the difference between a 3-to-1 telephone jack (the type of jack
let's you connect a computer modem, a fax and a telephone to single
telephone jack) and a full blown PBX. With a 3-to-1 telephone jack, only
one of the telephone devices can use the phone line at a time (e.g., the
phone, the computer modem or the fax machine, but not more than one).
Similarly, a hub lets you connect all the devices together, but at any one
time only one device can be talking to the other devices (e.g., another
computer, network printer and the broadband connection) at a time. The
hub blindly repeats the data sent from the device doing the sending to all
the other ports on the hub in parallel. All other devices wanting to send
data must wait until the network is free before they can transmit. This is
just like having to hang up the phone in order to send a fax.
 A switch, on the other hand, acts more like a telephone PBX. With a
PBX, some of the telephones inside a business may be sharing some
number of outgoing lines while other phones inside the business call each
other at the same time. An Ethernet switch allows parallel connections
between any two ports while leaving the other ports free to connect to
each other if needed.
What is a Hub?
 Hubs were the common network infrastructure devices used for LAN
connectivity but switches are rapidly replacing hubs. Hubs function
as the central connection point for LANs. Hubs are designed to work
with Twisted pair cabling and normally use RJ45 jack to connect the
devices. Network devices (Servers, Workstations, Printers, Scanners
etc) are attached to the hub by individual network cables. Hubs
usually come in different shapes and different numbers of ports.

 When a hub receives a packet of data (an Ethernet Frame) at one of


its ports from a network device, it transmits (repeats) the packet to all
of its ports to all of the other network devices. If two network
devices on the same network try to send packets at the same time a
collision is said to occur.
 Hubs operate in such a way that all data received through one port is
sent to all other ports. This type of operation creates an extremely
unsecure environment and anyone can sniff the network using a
sniffer and any unencrypted traffic over the network is not secure.
Hubs are unsecure LAN devices that should be replaced with
switches for security and increased bandwidth.

 Hubs are considered to operate at Physical Layer (Layer 1) of OSI


model. An 8 port hub is shown below.
Ethernet Hub
 Used to connect hosts to Ethernet LAN and to connect multiple Ethernet LANs
 Collisions are propagated

Ethernet Ethernet
Hub Hub

Host Host

IP IP

LLC LLC

802.3 MAC Hub Hub 802.3 MAC


 Hub
 Hub (Multi Way Repeater) propagate the signal onto a number
of segments, possibly with different types of cable.
 A hub consists of a single box with multiple ports.
 Each computer has a 10BaseT cable connecting to a port on
the hub.
 A signal coming into the hub on a particular port is propagated
to all other ports.
 Thus the hub simulates a single shared medium.
Hubs

Physical Layer devices: essentially repeaters operating at bit levels:
repeat received bits on one interface to all other interfaces
 Hubs can be arranged in a hierarchy (or multi-tier design), with
backbone hub at its top
Hubs
 Each connected LAN referred to as LAN segment
 Hubs do not isolate collision domains: node may collide with any
node residing at any segment in LAN

 Hub Advantages:
 simple, inexpensive device
 Multi-tier provides graceful degradation: portions of the LAN
continue to operate if one hub malfunctions
 extends maximum distance between node pairs (100m per Hub)
Hub limitations
 single collision domain results in no increase in max throughput
 multi-tier throughput same as single segment throughput
 Individual LAN restrictions pose limits on number of nodes in same
collision domain and on total allowed geographical coverage
 cannot connect different Ethernet types (e.g., 10BaseT and
100BaseT)
Ethernet Hubs vs. Ethernet
Switches
 An Ethernet switch is a packet switch for Ethernet frames
Buffering of frames prevents collisions.

 Each port is isolated and builds its own collision

domain
 An Ethernet Hub does not perform buffering:
Hub occur if two frames arrive at
 Collisions Switch
the same time.
CSMA/CD CSMA/CD CSMA/CD CSMA/CD

CSMA/CD CSMA/CD CSMA/CD CSMA/CD

HighSpeed
Backplane
CSMA/CD CSMA/CD CSMA/CD CSMA/CD

CSMA/CD CSMA/CD CSMA/CD CSMA/CD

Input Output
Buffers Buffers
 A hub is another variation of a switch. Hubs and switches function in a
similar manner, with one important difference:

 Hub: When a hub receives network traffic sent from one device to another,
the hub broadcasts the traffic to all the devices on the network. The intended
recipient processes the traffic, and all the other devices ignore the traffic.

 On small home networks, this difference is rarely a problem. However,


broadcasting traffic through a hub can cause network congestion on busy
networks, and because all devices connected to the hub see all of the traffic
on the network, it is not particularly secure.

 Switch: A switch, on the other hand, is essentially an intelligent hub. A


switch knows a little bit about the devices that are plugged into each of its
ports and uses that information to send network traffic that it receives from
one device, directly to the destination device. This causes less congestion on
the network and is more secure than a hub.
What are Bridges and Switches?
 A bridge is a network device that operates at the Data Link layer (Layer 2)
of OSI Model. There are many different types of bridges and include
Transparent bridges, Encapsulation bridges, Source-route bridges. Source-
route bridges are for Token Ring network. Bridges allow segmenting a
Local Network into multiple segments, thus reducing the network traffic.
A bridge performs the segmenting function by examining the Data Link
layer(Layer 2) Data Packet(Ethernet frame)and forwarding the packet to
other physical segments only if necessary. Both switches and bridges
function using Data Link Layer (Layer 2) addressing system, also known
as Mac Addresses.
 Bridge can connect only a few Networks, LANs or Hosts. A Bridge has
comparatively less ports than a Switch. A Switch has usually 24 ports or
48 ports. Brides and Switches are considered to operate at Data Link Layer
(Layer 2) of OSI Model.
 The following picture shows a 24 port, 10/100, Cisco 2950 Catalist Switch .
 Although you generally will want to connect your network devices at the
highest possible speed, it isn't necessary to splurge on the fastest switch,
particularly if cost is an issue. A 100-megabit Ethernet switch is more than
enough for most home networking needs. Net Gear (see the following
figure), Linksys (by Cisco), and D-Link are three popular brands of home
network switches.
 You should be aware of a few variations of switches when shopping for
networking hardware. For example, a router with a built-in 4-port switch is
one popular option. A router connects your home network to another
network, such as the Internet. Having a built-in switch in your router saves
you some hardware, space, and one extra electrical outlet! The following
figure shows a Linksys router with a 4-port switch.
Bridges/LAN switches
 A bridge or LAN switch is a device that interconnects two or more Local Area
Networks (LANs) and forwards packets between these networks.
 Bridges/LAN switches operate at the Data Link Layer (Layer 2)

Token-
ring

Bridge

IP IP
Bridge
LLC LLC LLC

802.3 MAC LAN 802.3 MAC 802.5 MAC LAN 802.5 MAC
 Bridges

 Bridges are used to connect two or more LANs together into one
big LAN.

 Bridges work at the Data Link Layer. (They do not look at the
Network Layer header as in the case of routers).

 Why do we need bridges?


 LAN’s in different departments may have developed
independently. Eventually they may need to be connected.
 Organizations may have LANs in different buildings, a bridge is
needed to connect them.
 If a LAN is very busy, it may need to be split into a number of
LANs to handle the load better (reduce collisions).
 Bridges

 Bridges are sometimes used to partition a network to contain


damage. If a computer has a defective Network Interface Card, a
bridge would not forward defective frames from one cable to the
other cable (unlike a repeater).

 Bridges increase the possibility of reliability in the network.

 Bridges are good for security, as they can be programmed to avoid


forwarding sensitive traffic.
• Diagram of a bridge
Host A Host B
Packet

Bridge
Network

Data Link

802.3 802.5 802.5


802.3
MAC
802.3 802.3 802.5 802.5
Physical

802.3 802.5

CSMA/CD LAN Token Ring LAN


 Explanation of diagram
 Host A has a packet to send
 The packet is passed to the Data Link Layer and gets a sequence
number etc.
 This is then passed to the MAC sub-layer, which adds information
relevant to 802.3. A frame is created at this point.
 The frame is passed to the physical layer, which places it on the
cable as a sequence of 1’s and 0’s.
 The frame arrives at the bridge and is eventually passed up to the
MAC sub-layer where the 802.3 specific information is stripped off.
 The bare packet is handed to the Data Link Layer.
 Explanation of diagram
 The Data Link Layer sends the packet down a different protocol
stack, in this case 802.5.
 The frame is eventually sent to the other LAN.

 Note:
 It is important to remember that a bridge connecting different types
of Local Area Networks will have:
 Different MAC sub-layers for each type of LAN
 Possibly different physical layers
 Transparent Bridges
 Transparent Bridges are an IEEE standard for bridges.

 If you have a site with multiple LANs, you can plug these LANs
into a Transparent Bridge and everything should work.

 There should be no need to make hardware or software changes, no


address setting, no manual building of routing tables.

 The Transparent Bridge should operate using ‘plug and play’

 The most important part of Transparent Bridges is its automatic


building of routing tables, using the Backward Learning
Algorithm.
Transparent Bridges
 Three principal approaches can be found:
 Fixed Routing
 Source Routing
 Spanning Tree Routing (IEEE 802.1d)

 Bridges that execute the spanning tree algorithm are called transparent
bridges

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 Backward Learning Algorithm
 When Transparent Bridges are first plugged in all the routing tables
are empty.

 The Transparent bridges need to build these routing tables as quickly


as possible.

 The routing table consists of addresses of computers and the LAN


that they are connected to.

 Every frame they receive, for which the Transparent Bridge does not
have a destination address in their routing table, are forwarded to all
LANs except the one that it comes in on. This is known as flooding
the network.
 Backward Learning Algorithm
 Before the Transparent Bridge forwards the frame, it makes an entry
in its routing table for the computer sending the frame (source
address in the frame).

 As part of this routing table entry, the Transparent Bridge notes the
position of the sending computer, i.e. what LAN the sending
computer is connected to.

 It uses this information for future reference, if another computer is


sending frames to that particular computer.

 As more frames are received by the Transparent Bridge, the routing


table at the Transparent Bridge fills up.

 As the routing table increases in size, the need to carry out flooding
is reduced.
 Backward Learning Algorithm
 The layout of the network can change as computers and bridges are
powered up and down and moved around.

 All entries in the routing table are time stamped, if a frame arrives
and its destination address is already in the routing table, the
timestamp is updated.

 Every so often tables are purged of their entries (after a couple of


minutes).

 This could happen when a machine is unplugged from the LAN and
moved to another LAN.

 This algorithm means that machines that do not transmit regularly


will get their table entries deleted and new entries in the routing
table will have to be created when frames are being sent again.
 Example Transparent Bridge
E

A B2 LAN 4

B1 F

B D
G
C Transparent B3 LAN 3
Bridge

LAN 1 LAN 2 H

 B2’s routing table would list the address of host A as being on LAN 2.
It doesn’t need to know where it is on LAN 2
Note:

A bridge has a table used in filtering


decisions.
Bridge
Note:

A bridge does not change the physical


(MAC) addresses in a frame.
Learning bridge
Loop problem
Prior to spanning tree application
Applying spanning tree
Forwarding ports and blocking ports
What is a Router?
 A router is another network infrastructure device that directs packets
through the network based on information from Network Layer (Layer
3) of OSI model. A router uses a combination of hardware and software
to "route" data from its source to its destination. A router can be
configured to route data packets from different network protocols, like
TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, and AppleTalk.

 Routers segment large networks into logical segments called subnets.


The division of the network is based on the Layer 3 addressing system,
like IP addresses. If the Network Layer (Layer 3) Data packet (IP
datagram) is addressed to another device on the local subnet, the packet
does not cross the router and create a traffic congestion problem in
another network. If data is addressed to a computer outside the subnet,
the router forwards the data to the addressed network. Thus routing of
network data helps conserve network bandwidth. The following picture
shows a Cisco 2800 Series Router.
Routers
 Routers operate at the Network Layer (Layer 3)
 Interconnect IP networks

IP network IP network IP network


Host Router Router Host

Application Application

TCP TCP

IP IP protocol IP IP protocol IP IP protocol IP

Network Data Network Network Data Network Network Data Network


Access Link Access Access Link Access Access Link Access

Host Router Router Host


Gateways
 The term “Gateway” is used with different meanings in different contexts

 “Gateway” is a generic term for routers (Level 3)

 “Gateway” is also used for a device that interconnects different Layer 3 networks and
which performs translation of protocols (“Multi-protocol router”)

X.25 SNA
IP Network
Host
Network Network Host
Gateway Gateway
Bridges versus Routers
 An enterprise network (e.g., university network) with a large number of
local area networks (LANs) can use routers or bridges
 1980s: LANs interconnection via bridges
 Late 1980s and early 1990s: increasingly use of routers
 Since mid1990s: LAN switches replace most routers

55
Interconnecting networks:
Bridges versus Routers
Routers Bridges/LAN switches

 Each host’s IP address must  MAC addresses of hosts are


be configured hardwired

 If network is reconfigured, IP
 No network configuration
addresses may need to be
needed
reassigned

 Routing done via RIP or OSPF  Routing done by


 learning bridge algorithm
 Each router manipulates  spanning tree algorithm
packet header (e.g., reduces  Bridges do not manipulate
TTL field) frames

56
Bridges vs. Routers
 both store-and-forward devices
 routers: network layer devices (examine network layer headers)
 bridges are Link Layer devices
 routers maintain routing tables, implement routing algorithms
 bridges maintain filtering tables, implement filtering, learning and spanning tree
algorithms
Bridges + and -
+ Bridge operation is simpler requiring less processing bandwidth

- Topologies are restricted with bridges: a spanning tree must be built to


avoid cycles

- Bridges do not offer protection from broadcast storms (endless broadcasting


by a host will be forwarded by a bridge)
Routers + and –
+ arbitrary topologies can be supported, cycling is limited by TTL counters
(and good routing protocols)
+ provide firewall protection against broadcast storms
- require IP address configuration (not plug and play)
- require higher processing bandwidth

 bridges do well in small (few hundred hosts) while routers used in large
networks (thousands of hosts)
 High Speed LANs

 The LANs that have been covered so far are mainly low speed and
good only over short distances.

 The future of LANs lie with faster transmission over greater


distances and with greater reliability.

 Two high speed LAN technologies of interest are


 FDDI: Fiber Distributed Data Interface, based on Optical Fiber
 Fast Ethernet, 802.3u, based on Twisted Pair and Optical Fiber.
 FDDI: Fiber Distributed Data Interface.

 FDDI is a high speed token ring fiber optical cable based technology

 This technology can ‘self-heal’, which means that the hardware can
automatically detect and correct hardware problems.

 FDDI consists of two independent rings to connect each computer.


Data flows in opposite direction in each ring.

 FDDI can have two types of Network Interface Cards, A and B, that
connect to it.

 Class A Network Interface Cards connect to both rings while class B


Network Interface Cards connect to only one ring.
 FDDI: Fiber Distributed Data Interface.
 Only class A cards can be used to heal broken rings. Thus the
number of class A cards define the fault tolerant characteristics of
the network.
 When an error occurs the nearest computer routes frames from the
inner ring to the outer ring.
 FDDI Characteristics
Uses Speed Distance Max Distance between Frame size
computers
LAN Interconnection 100MBsec 100km dual 2km for multimode fiber 4500 bytes
High Speed LAN ring; 18km for monomode
200km single fiber
ring

 Twisted pair cabling can be used. LED are used instead of lasers
 FDDI was supposed to be the LAN of the future. The reason it has
not become widespread is that the technology is complicated and
hence the hardware is expensive
 Fast Ethernet 802.3
 The IEEE enhanced the old Ethernet standard to 100Mbsec LAN
called Fast Ethernet.

 Some of the reasons that the IEEE developed this standard are:
 The need for a High Speed LAN standard to be backward
compatible with existing LANs.
 Possible unforeseen problems of a newly developed protocol.

 The basic idea behind Fast Ethernet was simple: Keep all the old
packet formats but reduce the time it takes to transmit a bit from 100
nanoseconds to 10 nanoseconds.

 The wiring is based on 10BaseT, 10Base5 and 10Base2 cannot be


used.

 Thus Fast Ethernet uses hubs. Vampire Taps or BNC connectors


cannot be used.
 Fast Ethernet 802.3
 Two choices of 10BaseT (Twisted pair) cables. Category 3 and
Category 5.

 The advantage of Category 3 cable is that it gained widespread


acceptance in offices throughout America and Europe. Therefore
buildings would not have to be re-wired.

 The disadvantage of using Category 3 was its inability to carry the


signals 100 metres as specified by 10BaseT.

 Category 5 twisted pair could carry signals 100 metres, as can fiber
optic cable.

 The compromise chosen was to allow all three cabling possibilities.


 Fast Ethernet Cabling Standards
 100BaseT4: Twisted Pair - requires 4 Category 3 UTP cables; 100m
max length.

 100BaseTX: Twisted Pair - requires 2 Category 5 UTP cables; 100m


max length

 100BaseFX: Two strands of Multimode Fiber (one for each


direction); 2km max length (distance between station and hub).

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